The term “open source” refers to software or a software license that allows a third party to view the source code of the software while maintaining the rights of the original author of the corresponding software or hardware. In general, the use of open-source allows joint participation, rapid prototyping, transparency in exchanging opinions, and community development of software or hardware for specific purposes. Thus, developers and businesses can quickly and stably produce software or hardware having desired functionalities by utilizing a variety of open-source software.
Like commercial software, open-source software is also subject to copyright (licensing). However, the open-source software is different from the commercial software in the manner in which the copyright is exercised, and the copyright owners of general open-source software can disclose source code (an open-source file) and exercise their rights to allow viewing, copying, installation, use, modification, and redistribution of the source code.
However, since the open-source software can be easily searched and downloaded to be used by anyone via the Internet, the use of the open-source software in violation of the copyrights of the copyright owners of the corresponding software has been increasing. Because of this, there has been used a technology to determine whether particular software has used the source code of the open-source software, or to verify open-source software licenses.